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I think I speak for all when I say I'm officially horrified by the annual (and highly contagious) Freebie Flu that infects the awards season and film festivals. But there's hope for a Swag Sickness cure. Some gifting suites are turning the marketing madness into worthy charitable ventures, much to the delight of unselfish celebrity guests.
Backstage Creations partnered with Clothes off our Backs -– the fashion charity created by Bradley Whitford and Jane Kaczmarek -- for the Golden Globes Talent Retreat. Stars such as Brittany Murphy, Courteney Cox, Jeremy Irons, "Heroes" stars Hayden Panettiere, Greg Grunberg and Masai Oka, Jenna Fischer ("The Office"), Kevin Dillon, "Lost" star Daniel Dae Kim, Henry Ian Cusick and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje signed individual and group-inked Starbucks T-shirts designed by Michael Knight of “Project Runway.”
Proceeds go to various charities including Pediatric Epilepsy Project, Children's Defense Fund, Cure Autism Now and various Darfur relief agencies. To bid, click here.
Up at Sundance in Park City, cashmere designer Rebecca Beeson hosted a Backstage Creations Survivor Day, which invited leukemia survivors to attend and be gifted/pampered like the festival's stars. “It was so much fun for them to get the full-on celebrity treatment,” says Karen Wood of Backstage Creations. “These are people from Salt Lake City, and they're definitely not jaded stars who take this special treatment for granted. They were just thrilled!”
The survivors even got to rub elbows with stars such as Sienna Miller, Robin Wright Penn and Adam Brody, who donated their gift suite booty to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. For fans of “Factory Girl,” Sienna’s signed Dooney & Burke bag -– filled of goodies -- will be up for auction next week (projected date Feb. 7) on Charityfolks.com.
Check out the goodies: Rebecca Beeson cashmere sweater, Moissanite by Charles & Colvard earrings (retail $4,000), Tahitian Noni Teas and Pomega5 skincare.
And here’s more adventures in Swagland:
You may have seen Sienna wearing a pair of cool LIVS crochet boots last year. No ubiquitous mainstream Uggs for this cutting edge trendsetter! Photos of the starlet in the comfy boots appeared in many rag mags, causing a sales surge. Suddenly, the LIVS boots, designed by Diana Fitzgerald, became hotter than hot, and her little company turned into big money-maker.
Well, guess who got to meet and thank Sienna at Sundance? At the Backstage Creations talent retreat, Fitzgerald told Sienna what an impact she had on her small boot company and her life. “Thank you so much! You gave me a career!” Sienna hugged Diana and they bonded and both got a bit emotional. So that's another way celebs lend a helping hand to those less fortunate.
Oh, and Diana promised
to send Sienna her the entire new line of stylish boots! You can see Sienna wearing LIVS and check out the new line by clicking here.
By the way, I'm assuming there must have been more charity work going on. Or at least I hope so. According to Sienna, people were literally throwing stuff at her at Sundance. And her car kept getting filled up with free loot too! She told me she only kept socks and knickers and an iPod thingie. All else went to charity.
Poor girl, I thought when she told me about her harrowing adventures in Swagland. How horrifying to be target for freebies! But then I checked out WireImage.com. Um, Sienna must have hit every single gifting suite and lounge in Park City: From Kari Feinstein's Style Lounge to the Hollywood Life House to the Green House presented by MaxAzria to DermaNew, Alora Ambiance, Ever and Worn Free at Village at the Lift, to the Marquee Lounge. And she posed smiling with so many sweaters, boots and jackets, I lost count.
So they hardly had to throw very far -- or very hard -- to hit her with all that unwanted swag. Here's a tip: If you don't want free stuff, don't go to the swag suites. And if you really want to be considered for an Oscar sometime, start acting like a serious actress. You don't see Helen Mirren, Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett or Kate Winset at swag suites, do you?
Photo Credits: Award winning "Office" mate Jenna Fischer signs up for the Clothes Off Our Backs cause at the Backstage Creations Golden Globes suite.
M. Sullivan/WireImage
Photo Credits: Even Sienna Miller got into the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society charity mood at the Backstage Creations suite up at Sundance.
M. Sullivan/ WireImage
Photo Credits: I love Sundance!" Sienna is living large hitting swag suites on Main Street. Throwing it at her indeed. How could anyone miss this target?
Jim Devaney/WireImage
It's utterly apalling for these companies to be gifting celebrities who make millions of dollars each year with free things. Rather, those same companies would get far more PR if they were to make substantial donations to charities in the local areas the film festivals and awards are held. Food kitchens, literacy programs, local cancer support groups aren't at the receiving end of national donor drives. So it would mean a lot to receive LARGE CASH CONTRIBUTIONS from them at this time.
While gifting suites are a 'nice' idea, the amount actually raised for the charities is much smaller than what these companies put out to have their goods there.
Posted by: callie | February 02, 2007 at 05:04 PM